Thursday, 9 am MT, 11 am ET, 03 October 2019

Logistics

Agenda

• 20A
  • TAC Meeting
    • Large Proposal Telecon (Dana)
    • Face-to-Face meeting (Dana)
• 20B
  • PST CfP Requirements: https://open-jira.nrao.edu/issues/?filter=11717 (Lorant)
    • High: 6 days plus a few unknowns - do them all
      • Feat 1.00 SSA-5866 PST 20B: VLA 4-band
      • Feat 1.00 SSA-5867 PST 20B: VLA 4/P-band
      • Feat 0.50 SSA-5868 PST 20B: VLA YUPPI
      • Feat 0.50 SSA-5865 PST 20B: HSA 4 Gbps
      • Feat 0.25 SSA-5864 PST 20B: Y1
      • Feat ? SSA-5873 PST 20B: VLA data rate
      • Feat ? SSA-5863 PST 20B: GBT new sponsors?
      • Feat ? SSA-5862 PST 20B: GBT new large proposal definition (maybe also for VLA/VLBA)
      • Bug 1.00 SSA-5733 GOST 20B bug fix
      • Bug 0.50 SSA-5820 Trigger Criteria can be left blank and proposal still validates
      • Bug 0.50 SSA-5798 Negative declinations not converted correctly in Min/Max LST calc
      • Feat 0.50 SSA-5800 Configuration "Any" and "Semesters" in VLA Resource Confusing
      • Bug ? SSA-5860 PST 20B: VLA LST/elevation error
      • Feat ? SSA-5861 PST 20B: Trigger criteria wording
    • Med : do the first 2-3 days of work in this order, rest if time allows (ordered)
      • Feat 0.25 SSA-5859 PST 20B: ECT labels
      • Feat 0.50 SSA-5822 Make "Elevation" and "Season" blank by default in ECT
      • Bug 0.13 SSA-5740 Pulsar YUPPI resource failed validation
      • Bug 0.50 SSA-5732 Available authors page should not allow adding disabled accounts
      • Bug 1.00 SSA-5731 Add author search not working properly
      • ---
      • Feat 1.00 SSA-5309 Update gender input in PST
      • Feat 2.00 SSA-5766 PST 20B: elevation limit
      • Bug 0.50 SSA-4738 GST Calculation for the VLBA
      • Feat ? SSA-4225 PST: add caption field to upload figs
      • Bug ? SSA-3109 characters in source name
      • Feat ? SSA-4790 Improvement to LST calculation
      • Feat 2.00 SSA-4192 PST: NED/SIMBAD search preferences
      • ResR ? SSA-4614 Add VLA configuration for HSA Proposals
    • Low (ordered?)
      • Feat 0.50 SSA-5761 Create script to package up disposition letters **review item?**
      • Bug 0.25 SSA-5461 ECT: time conversion bug
      • Bug 0.25 SSA-5805 Changing user name threw exception
      • Bug 0.50 SSA-5657 Password reset should handle disabled accounts differently
• AOB

Minutes

• 20A
  • TAC Meeting
    • Large Proposal Telecon. AmyMioduszewski reported that the VLA materials should be ready by 10 October. There are some issues with interpreting the number of semesters for Any configuration (see below). Also, there is some significant undersubscription with B-config; she will discuss this with BryanButler.
    • Face-to-Face meeting. GarethHunt noted that there is a planned upgrade to the polycom system which may affect the TAC meeting. DanaBalser will discuss this with the IT folks.
• 20B
  • PST CfP Requirements. We briefly discussed the priortized list from LorantSjouwerman. No suggested changes. LorantSjouwerman noted that the total time required to complete the high priority items was < 2 weeks, so we would not have to lobby for more time at the SSA/DMS prioritization meeting. RickLivley noted that we still need to flesh out the requriements for a few tickets to estimate the time. A few items we discussed in more detail.
    • SSA-5862 PST 20B: GBT new large proposal definition (maybe also for VLA/VLBA). DanaBalser reported that the current policy for all telescopes is that starting with 20B we will not accept Large propsals that are over 1000 hr or extending four or more semesters; that is, those that fit into the X-proposal definition. (BryanButler will discuss this with DaleFrail.) So we should update the software to flag proposals that are larger than 1000 hr. Updates to the definition of GBT Large proposals require the number of semesters over which the proposal will extend. This information is not included in the PST so for now this will need to be trapped in the techncial review. Proposals that are less than 200 hours can be selected as Large by the user and so can at least accommodate these changes.
    • SSA-5800 Configuration "Any" and "Semesters" in VLA Resource Confusing. AmyMioduszewski reported that four proposals (two PIs) selected "20" for the number of semesters for Any configuration. The prompt in the PST is "Semesters", so we assume they meant to put "20A", but since the software was expecting a number it used "20". We agreed to change the prompt to "Number of Semesters", and to check that there are less than four semesters (given the constraint for Large proposals).
• AOB
  • Obs Log vs OPT; AnandCrossley summarized the comparison between the Obs Log and the OPT for the time observed. LorantSjouwerman noted that the time in the OPT is often incorrect when the OPT does not properly account for a failed execution block, which can be due to schedsoc intervention. Other discrepancies were discussed (e.g., sometimes a script is used). BryanButler suggested that neither method is very accurate but probably good to a few percent. The exec block database or the spreadsheet that HeidiMedlin maintains would be more accurate. We agreed that the few percent level was okay. The plan is that AnandCrossley will run the script once per month to trap potentially large variations as a sanity check to the metrics. GarethHunt said that the band information is not very accurate and is reported to NSF. BryanButler investiagted this a while back but no report was written. There is a bias against high frequency time since pointing (done at lower frequencies) will be given equal weight. AnandCrossley will document these issues.
  • Production Emergencies: RickLively reported that the SSA group is instituting something similar to the Help Desk for emergency issues on production software. He will send around an email today.
  • Summer Student Projects: AnandCrossley followed up on our decision at the last meeting to label summer student projects as test instead of science. We agreed that this should be done at the OPT level. AmyMioduszewski will follow up on this.
  • TTA Meeting: The next TTA meeting slot (10 Oct 2019) will probably be used for a discussion of X-proposals.